OLED TVs at CES 2013: The wait is nearly, finally, just about over. Probably.

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After eight years of broken promises and improbable ship dates, widescreen OLED televisions may finally go on sale this year.

No, really. LG began taking pre-orders for its 55-inch 55EM9700 display last week. The 1920×1080 panel is virtually identical to the 55EM9600 that won the “Best of CES 2012″ award last year, but — as predicted — never actually shipped. Why not? Pick your favorite explanation — low yields, a weak global economy, OLED lifespan, and production ramps are all valid culprits.

As in previous years, a number of manufacturers are showcasing beautiful prototypes with amazing displays, but LG’s willingness to assign a model number, take pre-orders, and set a price ($12,000 for the 55-inch model) says more than any PR blitz could about the likelihood of an actual launch. The company will ship the 55EM9700 to South Korean customers beginning in February, with a US launch expected for March.

Meanwhile, at CES 2013, several companies are showing off some exciting OLED panels that, if we’re lucky, might find their way to market this year. Sony and Panasonic showcased gorgeous 4K OLED panels with thicknesses that rival cutting edge tablets. Fancy a TV that’s half an inch thick? Panasonic’s UHDTV-capable display has you covered. At 56 inches, Panasonic is also claiming to have built the world’s largest OLED TV.

Sony’s new 4K OLED, meanwhile, is built on metal oxide semiconductor technology, which the company claims gives it a substantial advantage in manufacturing. We first started hearing about metal-oxide semiconductor technology about eight months ago after the launch of the iPad 3, but Sony’s decision to deploy it on panels this large is a significant step forward. Our article from last summer addressed the slow growth of high-resolution displays in computer monitors, but the move to metal-oxide manufacturing should spark an uptick across multiple models.

Samsung, not to be out done, is demonstrating a curved 55-inch OLED display. According to Samsung the curvature creates a more immersive, “IMAX” viewing experience. There are no details on resolution, how curved the display actually is, or price. Apparently it’s due out in the second half of 2013.

Still, of all the displays being shown, LG’s 55EM9700 stands out for one simple reason: It’s got a ship date. The company is taking pre-orders in South Korea now, with plans to ship on February. US availability is expected in March. And the price? A cool $12,000, give or take.

So yeah. For the majority of us, it’s going to take a little while before these things drop into the affordable range. But after eight years of waiting, even an insanely expensive shipping product is infinitely better than nothing at all.

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dns7950

I can’t wait for this technology to become (somewhat) affordable for the average joe.. I won’t upgrade just for the OLED , and I won’t upgrade just for UHD (4K), but I can’t wait until I can get a 55″ Ultra-HD OLED TV for less than $2000. Hopefully that will happen within 5 years. I wish we could put pictures in comments, the Futurama “Shut up and take my money” meme comes to mind.

Roberto Tomás

A couple years back you could get a 4k computer monitor for around $40k. When it got out of professional market and into the consumer tv market, late last year, the prices started all the way down at $20k. This year, not even a year later, There are 4k sets that they are claiming will start under $10k.
Consumer level OLED is going up to the highest bidder for ~$12k since last year (and internationally since just the other day at CES), so … by the end of the year expect prices in the ~$6-8k range. By 2015,, probably sub $4k.

Joel Hruska

Roberto,

The consumer OLED panel in the $12K range is a 1080p panel. No one has given a price on OLED + 4K. No consumer OLED sets were sold in 2012. Technically speaking, none have been delivered yet.

Don’t expect prices to come down very quickly at first, particularly not for 4K OLED.

Roberto Tomás

Yeah, 4k OLED is a whole different ball of wax. I’m not sure if there will even be any sold in 2013. :) You’re wrong about OLED last year, the flat panel LGs just never left the country. This year the curved screens are going international

Joel Hruska

Roberto,

Please link me to that info. Everything I found (and I dug extensively) indicates that LG began accepting pre-orders for the 9700 on January 1, 2013. That’s in South Korea.

LG’s South Korean website lists it as a news item, but not a shipping product:

Maybe you know a guy who knew a guy. Maybe the company *did* sell a few, extremely quietly, to really wealthy people. Maybe there were some give-aways or promotions or such things.

But I see no evidence that any 55″ OLED TV from LG actually shipped last year in purchasable volume, at any price tag.

Roberto Tomás

uhh, I read that like half a year ago, I suggest searching yourself. If you are looking for the same model number as this year, you aren’t going to find it. This year the OLEDs are curved, the ones that sold last year in Korea were flat.

Joel Hruska

Roberto,

The 55EM9600 is the OLED flat panel that LG announced at CES 2012 and planned to ship last calender year.

The 55EM9700 is the OLED flat panel that LG showed at CES 2013 this week. It is one of three panels that the company plans to launch, but the only one for which it has provided a shipping date or price.

I *did* my research. It indicates that no one shipped a widescreen consumer OLED television in 2012.

If you’re going to show up and say “No, that’s wrong,” in a situation where I already investigated the topic, I’m going to ask you for your evidence before I amend an article.

Pax Terminus

OLED is super-cheap to manufacture once you get your organic goo formula right. You literally print those screens from ink-jet printer. And their native resolution is, well, infinite by technology standards (they are a chemical compound, they have resolution like regular photo film of old). The only issue is density of control elements. But printing a 1200DPI 55 inch screen is no biggie (think 4000k not 4k).
20 years form now you will have only OLED screens and they will be everywhere, even on your t-shirt. Heck, you will be able to get an OLED tatoo…

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